Adam Huggins (below) is one of my best friends. We’ve known each other since our freshman year in college, and we really shouldn’t be friends anymore. Nothing personal. It’s just that freshman year was the only time in our lives that we lived near each other. He transferred to Wake Forest, and has lived in Birmingham, Richmond and now Nashville. Friendships normally don’t survive that, even in the era of Facebook. For God’s sakes: we were 18 the one time we hung out consistently. I’m not bragging or trying to suggest that our friendship is made of brawn and steel. […]

Ah, summer. You roll in all seductive and lazy in early June and spoil us with rain, greenery, bursts of sunlight and the desire to barbecue everything in sight. You treat us well, and then seemingly overnight you abandon us to the moodiness of fall. We didn’t know what we had until we lost you. Summer’s end is certainly weighing heavily on me these days. Not that I can’t handle the cold — it’s that I can’t handle the torrid pace of life. September: it’s next week. My God. It’s been a snap-happy time for me and my shutter release. […]